Prelude[]

After a millennia of conflict due to the Kree/Skrull War, the enemy empires have suddenly assembled under the leadership of Emperor Dorek VIII, the Kree/Skrull hybrid super hero and Young Avenger known as Hulkling. With the two empire's troops in his hands, Hulkling leads them to Earth. In the meantime, Earth's heroes investigate a mysterious murder, finding that the victim is the Kree spy Bel-Dann. They decode a secret message saying "Beware the trees," and track down the Skrull Raksor, believing him to be his killer. Raksor reveals he was working with Bel-Dann, and is suddenly killed when a tree bursts out of his stomach.^[1]

Some time later, the Avengers receive an S.O.S. from the Blue Area of the Moon, and find out it has been forested by the Cotati, a pacifist plant-like alien race who were allies of the Avengers. Quoi and the Swordsman reveal to the heroes that the Kree and the Skrull have united, and plan to forge their alliance by exterminating the Cotati. Iron Man rallies the Avengers to protect the Cotati.^[2] At the same time, the Fantastic Four are side-tracked to the Casino Cosmico on their way back from an adventure. They discover two young soldiers, Jo-Venn and N'Kalla, a Kree and a Skrull respectively, being forced to constantly fight each other in an arena, having both been imbued with the chronicles from the Kree/Skrull War of each of their species to fuel their hate for each other. The Fantastic Four show the two children the ability to work together instead in the process of rescuing them from their handler, the Profiteer. As they head to Earth with the kids, the Fantastic Four stumble into the Alliance fleet approaching the planet.^[3]

Main Story[]

After sending Jo-Venn and N'Kalla home with Powerhouse and Brainstorm, the Fantastic Four approach the Alliance's flagship to find out Hulkling is leading the two races. As the Avengers prepare on the Moon to engage the Kree and the Skrulls, the Swordsman takes the Hulk away to provide her with a hammer which seemingly allows her to mentally manifest as Jennifer Walters while retaining her power. Mister Fantastic makes contact with Iron Man, and they deduce that Hulkling is only a figurehead, with Kl'rt the Super-Skrull and Tanalth the Pursuer being truly in charge. Hulkling attempts to explain that Super-Skrull and Tanalth warned him of the Cotati being a threat to the well-being of the galaxy, but Iron Man accuses the attack on the innocent Cotati to be nothing more than a stunt to cement the alliance. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four try to convince Hulkling that he has been used and prepare to stop the Alliance, but Hulkling decides to push forward. Iron Man infects the Alliance fleet with a virus that incapacitates their system. In a turn of events, the Cotati were counting on the Avengers to delay the Alliance long enough for a giant flower called the Death Blossom to bloom. Quoi drops his pacifist façade, using the Death Blossom's amplification energies to sprout vines everywhere on the Alliance's fleet, massacring its soldiers. Quoi declares war on all animal life across the entire universe, and sets out to turn the Earth into the birthplace of the Cotati's Empyre.^[4]

Quoi holds Iron Man, Captain America and Thor captive, and explains to them that he had learned through the Swordsman of the crimes committed on the Cotati by the Skrulls and the Kree and wanted to avenge them. To this end he reveals that they had started experimenting with the Death Blossom, a kind of flower that amplifies Cotati magic depending on the soil where it's planted. The Kree and the Skrull caught notice of the Cotati's experiments on their territory, so they formed the Alliance to strike back, appointing Hulkling as leader to unify their people, with the Cotati's murder of Raksor and Bel-Dann being a failed attempt to stop it. It was in response to the Alliance's movements that the Cotati had enlisted the Avengers to trick them into helping them incapacitate the Kree/Skrull fleet. Thor manages to free himself and his allies, prompting Quoi to escape. As the Avengers return to Earth, which has been invaded by the Cotati, Captain Marvel heads to the Alliance flagship. Using Hulkling's weapon, the Star-Sword named Excelsior, Carol frees the flagship from the Cotati's plant attack by absorbing the energies of the sword and dispersing them. In the aftermath, Tanalth hands Carol over the Universal Weapon and appoints her Accuser of the Alliance. Super-Skrull warns Hulkling that it's in his hands the destruction of the Earth by the Pyre.^[5]

Captain America organizes the heroes' efforts against the Cotati across the world while Thor goes on a quest to seek out godly powers. Tony Stark secludes himself at the Avengers Mountain, working with Mister Fantastic on a countermeasure against the Cotati's plant-control power. In Wakanda, a fraction of heroes fend off a Cotati incursion. Outside the frontlines, Wakanda is visited by Mantis, who seeks to stop her son Quoi without violence, believing the Swordsman to be the root of his evil actions. On the Alliance flagship, Hulkling gains the disapproval of his royal guard after refusing to let Captain Marvel go on a suicide mission to destroy the Death Blossom on the Moon, deciding instead to hand over the Star-Sword to Black Panther for a plan of his own. Super-Skrull reveals to Hulkling that the Pyre consists in a Sun-detonating device, and that it's in his hands to deploy it to stop the Cotati if they were to conquer the Earth. Royal guard member Captain Glory privately confronts Tanalth, accusing her of being a Skrull. She reveals herself to be R'Klll, former Skrull empress and Hulkling's grandmother, who is determined to consolidate Hulkling's position of power since he is of her bloodline.^[6]

Having abducted Hulkling, R'Klll impersonates him and takes his place. He decides to agree to the deployment of the Pyre. Captain Marvel and the Human Torch try to confront him, but they are teleported away by Alliance mage Mur-G'nn, sending them to the apartment of Wiccan, Hulkling's boyfriend. Reed and Tony continue working at Avengers Mountain, where Tony has been building a Fantastic Four-inspired suit of armor. In Wakanda, Black Panther holds the line against an ever-increasing swarm of Cotati to prevent them from claiming the Great Vibranium Mount, whose Vibranium-enriched soil they intend to use to grow a new Death Seed. Accompanied by the Invisible Woman, The Thing and the Hulk, Mantis confronts Quoi at his outpost in Lake Victoria and attempts to talk him out of committing genocide, to no avail. The Hulk turns against her allies, revealing that she has been taken over by a Cotati ever since the Avengers were on the Moon. Billy uses magic to see Carol's recent memory of Hulkling and determines that person isn't him, revealing in the process that they had married.^[7] Wiccan explains that he and Hulkling had married in a hasty wedding before Teddy had to leave to join the Alliance. This symbolic bond between them allows Billy to cast a spell to bring himself, Carol and Johnny to the real Hulkling. In Wakanda, Black Panther is seemingly killed by the Swordsman when he and Quoi arrive on a portal and prepares to plant the Death Blossom seed. Having recovered the real Hulkling, who was forced into an Inhibitor Mask, Wiccan teleports him to the Alliance flagship. When they confront the impostor Hulkling, he reveals he has already triggered the Pyre. Reed and Tony prepare to attend to the two crises, having only less than ten minutes left to deal with both of them.^[8]

As Reed departs to Wakanda suited up on Tony's new armor, the Dark Harvest under command of Quoi have captured Jo-Venn and N'Kalla. The New Fantastic Four attempt to stop them, but they enact their plan of using an Omni-Wave Projector to beam into every troop of the Kree and Skrulls the darkest memories of their war, causing discord between soldiers and risking to shatter the Alliance. As the Sun's temperature begins to elevate, Hulkling has Captain Marvel and the Human Torch try to contain the detonation with Wiccan's help, providing them teleportation, protection and sustenance with magic at the edge of the star. In Lake Victoria, the Cotati continues fighting The Thing, Mantis and the Invisible Woman without relent. Sue manages to contain her, giving The Thing time to reach out to the real Jennifer Walters, who emerges from death and takes her body back. At the same time, Powerhouse and Brainstorm reach out to Jo-Venn and N'Kalla, and manage to make them focus on their shared bond and the fact that they managed to work together, disrupting the Dark Harvest's telepathic attack,^[9] changing the Omni-Wave Projector's beam into one which fuels the Alliance's bond.^[10]

Black Panther recovers from his injuries and confronts the Swordsman. Mister Fantastic appears in front of Quoi, using his suit to emit sonic frequencies that disrupt the Cotati's control over plants. They are joined by the combined forces of Earth's heroes as well as the Alliance. In the meantime, the royal guard joins the efforts to subdue the Sun's detonation. From Avengers Mountain, Tony uses its teleporting systems to send reprogrammed Unstable Molecules into the Sun, which throws into disorder the Pyre's mechanism, causing it to shut off. R'Klll lashes out at Hulkling, breaking open the Inhibitor Mask, which gives Teddy the chance to lunge and her and fasten it to her instead. Having returned from his quest empowered by Gaea, Thor revokes the Cotati's control over Earth's vegetation on a global scale. When he is overpowered by Black Panther, the Swordsman turns against Quoi and holds him at sword-point in an attempt to escape, revealing his true vile nature. T'Challa manages to stab him, pushing him into the Death Blossom tulip and destroying both. With the Death Blossom on the Moon also having been destroyed, by the X-Men, the Cotati surrender globally. Quoi is apprehended and accepts to see justice, arguing that he was right in trying to liberate the world from exploitation by animal life.^[9]

Aftermath[]

Following the Cotati's surrender, the Alliance, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four round them up on the Blue Area of the Moon. Investigating the Cotati's advanced amber weapons, Reed calls the Profiteer to employ her services to identify their origin. While waiting for her, Thor and Powerhouse transport the entirety of the Cotati to a barren planet in uncharted territory. Thor uses up his newly-obtained powers to forest the entirety of the planet. Mister Fantastic and Carol Danvers take the ashes of Raksor and Bel-Dann and release them on the tunnels where they lived for long, laying them to rest together. The Profiteer reveals the Cotati weapons predate even the Elders of the Universe, and attempts to leave with Jo-Venn and N'Kalla. The heroes take a stand, and Hulkling nulls the contract that gave her power over them. After the Profiteer is driven away, Hulkling decrees The Thing and Alicia Masters the guardians of the two children. Once everybody leaves, the Unseen attempts to investigate the Cotati weapons left behind, but the revelation that they belong to the first race causes his eye to burst, freeing the formerly-deceased Uatu the Watcher from within, who warns the Unseen of a reckoning.^[11]

The combatants of the war gather at the Alliance's flagship to hold a royal celebration for Hulkling and Wiccan's marriage, during which Billy is appointed prince consort and court wizard of the Alliance. During the celebration, Tony Stark, Captain America and Thor reflect on the journey of the Young Avengers and have a toast in the memory of Hulkling's father, Captain Mar-Vell. Abigail Brand, commander of Alpha Flight, interrupts the party to lash out at Carol Danvers for keeping her out of the loop, and quits, warning her that Alpha Flight is useless. The following day, Hulkling pays his grandmother a visit at the brig of the flagship, where she reveals that she had survived the destruction of Tarnax IV at the hands of Galactus by using a translocator device. She had since then impersonated the long-time dead prisoner of war Tanalth to raise in the ranks of the Kree, using breakthrough Skrull technology to mask her DNA. R'Klll warns Hulkling that the Earth will turn against him, but he brushes her off. Sometime in the future, the Alliance lays defeated in the battlefield, and Hulkling admits that his grandmother was right. He is approached by Abigail Brand, offering her help, she reveals that she has reinstated S.W.O.R.D.^[12]

Prelude[]

• Incoming #1
• Road to Empyre: The Kree/Skrull War #1
• Empyre: Avengers #0
• Empyre: Fantastic Four #0
• Empyre Handbook #1

Main Event[]

• Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #18-21
• Empyre: Avengers #1-3
• Empyre: Captain America #1-3
• Empyre: Savage Avengers #1
• Empyre: X-Men #1-4
• Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #21-23
• Lords of Empyre: Celestial Messiah #1
• Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling #1
• Lords of Empyre: Swordsman #1
• X-Men (Vol. 5) #10-11

Canceled Tie-ins[]

• Empyre: Epilogue #1
• Empyre: Ghost Rider #1
• Empyre: Invasion of Wakanda #1-3
• Empyre: Immortal Hulk #1
• Empyre: Spider-Man #1-3
• Empyre: Squadron Supreme #1-2
• Empyre: Stormranger #1-3
• Empyre: Thor #1-3
• Strikeforce #10

Aftermath[]

• Empyre: Aftermath Avengers #1
• Empyre: Fallout Fantastic Four #1
• Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #7-8
• Immortal She-Hulk #1
• Web of Venom: Empyre's End #1

Videos[]

Recommended Reading[]

• Fantastic Four #2^[13]
• Fantastic Four #37
• Kree-Skrull War (Avengers #89-97)
• Avengers #133
• Giant-Size Avengers #4
• Savage She-Hulk #1
• X-Men #137
• Fantastic Four #257
• Fantastic Four Annual #18
• Avengers Annual #14^[13]
• Fantastic Four #357
• Avengers #347^[13]
• Avengers: Celestial Quest
• Young Avengers #9-12
• Secret Invasion #8^[13]
• Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #25^[13]
• New Avengers (Vol. 4) #3-4
• Meet the Skrulls

• Marvel reprinted the recommended issues leading to the event in the True Believers: Empyre line. They also released a free magazine teasing the event.
• The publication of this event was intended to span from April to August 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Diamond Comic Distributors suspended the distribution of new print titles between April 1st and May 27th,^[14] which also caused digital releases by Marvel Entertainment to be postponed.^[15] In addition to the resolicitation of the postponed issues to further dates, pushing the event's end to September, certain tie-ins, namely Empyre: Ghost Rider #1, Empyre: Invasion of Wakanda #1–3, Empyre: Spider-Man #1–3, Empyre: Squadron Supreme #1–2, Empyre: Stormranger #1–3, Empyre: Thor #1–3 and Strikeforce #10 were canceled, although there was no official statement.^[16] The Union limited series was eventually expanded from three to five issues and resolicited as part of another event, King in Black.^[17]

• The Kree and the Skrulls have united their forces in other universes such as Earth-4290001, Earth-90111, and Earth-14118.
• The name "Empyre" is derived from the combination of "Empire" and "Empyrean".